Facebook May Be Making You Depressed

Turns out Facebook envy is a real thing and people who suffer from it are unhappy and likely depressed, says a new study. The University of Copenhagen experiment involved 1,095 people who are active on Facebook. While half were asked to keep their Facebook habits consistent, the other half were instructed to not log on at all. The experiment was conducted for one week. The study was mostly female, with an average age of 34, and an average friend count around 350. After a 15-minute questionnaire, the participants were randomly placed into one of the groups—users and non users. Those logging on constantly admitted to suffering high levels of “Facebook envy,” which is feelings of jealously and anxiety at your friends’ posts.

For those who logged off, satisfaction and happiness with their own real lives increased.